Friday, August 17, 2007

Antonio posted this pic of a campaign sign for Jocelyn Coulon, the Liberal candidate in the Outremont by-election. This looks like one of the big roadside ones, not the small lawn signs, but I still gather this will be the new look we'll have in the next general campaign.

I'd be interested in your thoughts. While Antonio complains there's too much green and not enough red, I disagree. I think they look sharp, the green leaves are understated and play the environmental theme in a subtle, low key way. There's still lots of red (maybe a scene red and green maple leafs instead of just green would have worked better?) and the Liberal logo is still featured prominently.

And forgive me for saying so, but I'm just glad we've moved on from the cult of personality era and are just saying Liberal, rather than something like Stephane Dion's Liberal Team.

On a contrarian note though I have to wonder: photos of the candidate on signs, good or bad idea? I've always understood the usual political maxim to be no: they're more likely to get vandalized, mustaches, etc. Costs a bit more too no doubt. I remember all the Liberal signs in 04 had Martin's face on them (the plastic bag lawn ones), they faded in the sun in about a week and he ended-up looking, shall we say, not so flattering. While I like the look with the photo here stylistically, I still wonder if it's the right way to go.

10 comments:

is it just me, or does it seem that all campaign signs in Quebec usually seem to look different and nicer. It just seems that Quebec election signs look so unique in size and design compared to the rest of the country.

"On a contrarian note though I have to wonder: photos of the candidate on signs, good or bad idea?"

Signs can play differently in different parts of the country. This is a sign for a by-election in very urban Outremont. Emphasizing the green platform in this riding is smart. No face on any of the signs would also get noticed but for the wrong reasons. "Why is he hiding his face?"Personally, I would find it a bit creepy (in Montreal).

Northwestern Lad-- the revolution in creativity in Quebec signage came from the souvereignist side and "demonstrated" to many commentators that the souvereignists were more dynamic than the Liberals. Its a bit cheap, I mean, what do signs really mean substatively, but Liberals (in Quebec at least) would be dumb to let multicoloured and creative Bloc signs create a false impression. Liberals are fun and creative too, no?

I like it. Green links to environmental focus, face puts a person there, and that it does look so different from the old type feels fresh, supporting what Dion has been saying - the Liberal party has been making changes. Works against CPC and their "remember the 13 years of curruption?" as well.

I think a lot of candidates will be able to re-use their old signs too.

I haven't seen the lawn signs but I'd expect (hope) them to be more primarily red.

As for logos, I don't think that'd stop people. Last election my local candidate papered the riding with every variety of Liberal sign and logo going back to 93. It was like the never built Canadian political history museum.

Once again the Liberals are trying to woo voters with falsehoods and cheap electoral ploys, how pathetic. If people were to really look at their environmental record, they would notice that while they were in office, Canada did abysmally in trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, they went up almost 30%. If they really took the environment and voters seriously, they would have done something in 1997 when the protocol was signed and not waited until the last minute and offer a Kyoto or nothing strategy which will wreck the economy and do more harm to Canada than good. I hope the voters in these Quebec ridings will look beyond this cheap electoral trick and view the Liberals' record on the environment and other issues for what it really is, a disappointment, no amount of trees on a sign can change that.